The Moon Cycle
by Lulu Pink
Summary: The day her mother dies is the day that Katara discovers her destiny. Or: The Avatar State could only keep Aang alive for so long before he froze to death. The Avatar is dead, but the cycle must continue. AU, Avatar!Katara.
1. Book 1: Water, Part 1

**_Book 1: Water_**

**_Part 1_**

* * *

When Katara wakes up, people look at her differently. She doesn't completely recognize the looks, but what she does recognize is their expectation for _change_. How _she_ is supposed to change _anything_ when she is only an eight year old girl, Katara doesn't know.

Only, she's not just an eight year old girl anymore, is she?

Large spikes protrude from the ice around her home—or what used to be her home. Where once stood a sturdy igloo was now simply chunks of snow piled on each other. The chunks themselves were too clean-cut for her home to have been destroyed by anything other than a saw...or, according to her father, a very powerful wind.

"_I_ did that?" Katara asks, her voice shaky. She wonders if the tremble is from fear, pain, or the sliver of awe she can feel well up in the pit of her stomach.

Then she remembers that her mother is dead, and apparently it's Katara's destiny to save the world.

It's not too hard to beat back the awe after that.

"Yes," her father replies, voice solemn, "you did."

Sokka stands beside him, watching her with yet another look she can't quite read.

* * *

"The North Pole," suggests a tribesman, and Katara watches as most of the other adults nod in agreement.

"Yes, sending the girl to the North Pole is our best option," continues one of the elders. "Our only option. We have no other waterbenders to teach her here."

"They don't teach women waterbending there, everyone knows that," counters Bato.

"They will have to make an exception. After all, she is the Avatar. She must learn if we ever want this war to end."

Her father is silent, listening but not actively participating. His fists are clenched, but the tired frown on his face is a familiar one. It's the face he makes when he knows what to do, but does not want to do it.

Katara thinks she might have been excited, once. A week ago, she would have been grinning, eagerly awaiting the chance to learn how to control her waterbending. But now, she feels only dread.

She is the Avatar. For a hundred years, a war has raged on, and now she must be the one to stop it. She must face the Fire Nation, the people who took her mother from her only days ago, and she must defeat them.

"The fate of the world rests in her hands," one of the warriors say, and Katara feels her shoulders slump.

There is no way they miss the tears on her face, but they say nothing. Katara doesn't know if she's grateful or resentful for their feigned ignorance.

* * *

Life is harder in the North Pole. Not so much the training, as it turns out she's a natural. It's everything else; the homesickness, the loneliness, her destiny...

She wishes she hadn't been born the Avatar.

Sometimes, she imagines running away, ignoring her destiny to live a normal life. Whenever the thought crosses her mind, though, a part of her flinches violently.

She wonders why.

* * *

Two years later, Katara is ten and a master waterbender. She feels proud of her accomplishment for all of five minutes before the other children of the tribe force her out of it.

"It's only because she's the Avatar," an older boy says, sneering down at her.

"If she weren't, she'd probably be at the bottom of the class."

"If she weren't the Avatar, she wouldn't have even gotten into the class," another boy claims with a roll of his eyes. "She'd be just another dumb girl in the healing house."

They laugh, and Katara wants to scream that she'd be just as good even if she weren't the Avatar, but she can't know that for sure. Instead, she waits for lessons to begin, then she kicks their butts.

She tells herself that that's enough for her.

(It's not.)

* * *

Master Pakku finds her later that day, staring absently into the koi pond. She does this often, hoping that being in this sacred place will help her find her way. It never does. But it does give her peace away from the people who make her feel so...other, and that's better than nothing.

"You are the best student I ever had," he says to break the silence, a fond smile on his face. "And it had nothing to do with you being the Avatar. You are clever, creative, and more stubborn than a goat gorilla — just like your grandmother. Even without your destiny, you still would have been the most powerful waterbender I will ever have the pleasure to meet. Except for me, of course."

Katara giggles at that last part, but settles down soon afterwards.

"I'm leaving soon, aren't I?" Katara asks, even though it's unnecessary. She needs to learn the other elements, and so she must leave to seek out teachers. Of course, they could send for teachers to come to her, but she knows they won't do that. Avatar or not, many of the tribe see her as a stain to their traditions, and they would not taint their way of life further by welcoming even more strangers into their home.

No, they would just rather send a ten year old girl out into a war-torn world by herself, with a fate far too heavy for her to bear alone.

Katara is only a little bitter about that.

(She's _very_ bitter.)

"You won't be alone," Master Pakku says, seemingly reading her mind.

Before she can question him, he stands with a wink, and leaves her to her thoughts.

* * *

"Are you just gonna splash around in the water all day, or am I gonna get a hug?"

Katara almost trips, startled by a voice she hasn't heard in two years.

"Sokka!" She cries, running into her brothers arms at top speed. She sobs, holding him tightly, because it's been so long, she's felt so alone, and he smells like home—

"Please don't leave me," she whimpers, and it's pathetic, but she _needs_ him there with her.

She doesn't notice how he stiffens at first, tense with fear, before softening at her words. This is still his little sister, he realizes at once. This is his little sister, and she needs her big brother.

"I won't," he promises, and he dares anyone to try and make him break that promise.

A pair of hands pat them both on their heads, and Sokka flushes in embarrassment when he remembers that they're not alone.

"Bato!" Katara greets with a smile, face still wet with tears.

"Good to see you again, Katara."

"What are you both doing here?"

"We're here to help you find your next bending teachers, duh. Dad wanted to come too, but he's the chief, so..."

Katara is relieved to hear that. She's not sure she could face her father just yet.

Not after he sent her away.

"We'll be heading to the Earth Kingdom soon," Bato informs her, startling her out of her thoughts. "You should say your goodbyes."

Katara shakes her head, careful to keep her face neutral. "To who?"

The silence that follows is awkward, and she almost feels guilty.

* * *

Sometimes, when the moon is full, Katara hears things. It was harder to notice in the North Pole, where she lived alone and only spent time around people during the day. But now, on a ship in close quarters with her brother and Bato (and a small crew that will take the ship back home once they've been dropped off in the Earth Kingdom), it's impossible to ignore the steady cadence coming from the people around her.

It sounds like a heartbeat. If she listens closer, she swears she can hear the flow of blood.

She's reminded of how she sways with each push and pull of every wave, how she can feel every drop of water that touches her skin with hypersensitivity. With this realization, she knows that she could probably bend the very blood in someone's body if she tried.

She doesn't try.

The temptation remains.

* * *

**AN: If anyone actually reads this, I hope you enjoyed it. ****I don't have a beta, so I hope there aren't too many mistakes.**** The part where Sokka and Bato come in reads kinda awkwardly to me, but oh well. **

**Unfortunately, what with my spotty wifi and the fact that I haven't seen the show in a while (like 5 years at least), the next chapter probably won't be up until July or August. **


	2. Book 1: Water, Part 2

**Book 1: Water**

**Part 2**

* * *

Katara stares out at the waves, watching every spray of water against the ship with rapt attention. A drop of water lands on her arm, and she focuses her attention on using it to trace patterns on her skin, pointedly ignoring what, to her senses, feels like large sacks of water wandering around the deck of the ship.

Despite her best efforts, forcing herself to ignore the problem has only made her hyper aware of it. Katara clenches her fists, annoyance growing at the persistence of this new ability she's developed.

Or, rather, an old ability that she's only just realizing the potential of.

She recalls her life in the North Pole and wonders how she could have missed this development, then comes to the conclusion that she'd simply disregarded it as nothing of importance.

Whatever the case, she curses the fact that the moon will continue to be full for a couple more hours. With the way the awareness has steadily become weaker as the night passes, she knows that as the moon begins to wane, so will the strength of her ability—bloodbending, as she's taken to calling it.

Not that she knows for _sure_ that she can bend blood, as she is yet to try, but there's something in her that just knows she's right.

She wonders idly if this is an Avatar ability, though she can't think of any stories to support this. It makes sense, though. She already knows being the Avatar comes with a whole lot of unrealistically powerful abilities (controlling all four elements, the Avatar State, reincarnation, and a weird relationship with the Spirit World), so why not add "controlling people's blood" to the list?

Still, if that's true, that just means bloodbending is just another part of being the Avatar that scares her.

Nothing new, really.

The real surprise will come when she finds a part of being the Avatar that she actually likes.

* * *

Her new green dress itches. Though, looking at the light stains dotting the edge of her sleeves, maybe "new" isn't quite the word she should be using. The material is coarse, and obviously well used. She thinks the shirt must have belonged to someone thinner than her, too, judging by the tightness around her chest and upper arms. She's almost afraid of moving too much lest she rip the cloth in half.

However, despite the uncomfortable feel of it, she's glad for the change. They'd only just arrived in the Earth Kingdom and already the change in climate is getting to her. The air is warmer here than in the North Pole, or the ocean they crossed to get here. The shirt was obviously made for weather like this, unlike the thick material of her usual Water Tribe attire.

"Did you steal these?" Sokka asks Bato, struggling to fold over the sleeves of his own much too large "new" shirt.

"Of course not. I left a few copper pieces by the door," Bato explains, somehow unaffected by the fact that the collar of his own shirt sits too tightly around his neck to be comfortable.

"Just out there in the open? What if somebody else takes it?"

"Then that would be terribly unlucky for them. To be robbed twice in a day—before sunrise, even!"

"Why couldn't we have just bought some new clothes?" Katara asks after a moment. "Legally, you know?"

"We need to blend in as much as possible," Bato explains. "Members of the Water Tribe—North or South Pole—aren't often seen outside our own lands. We can't just go out into villages in our Water Tribe clothing, it's too conspicuous. Especially if we are then seen in brand new Earth Kingdom clothing."

Sokka makes a noise of understanding. "Oh, and this way, with clothes that have obviously been worn and worked in, we look like regular Earth Kingdom people."

"Exactly."

Katara, who has never claimed to be any sort of strategist, feels lost. She thinks she understands the advantages in claiming to be Earth Kingdom (less questions, they won't be standing out too much, more freedom to explore and find herself a good earthbending teacher, etc.) but she doesn't _quite_ understand the necessity.

"But why do we need to blend in?" she pipes up, looking at Bato curiously. "Why shouldn't the world know who we—who_ I _am? People deserve to know that there's _hope_ out there."

As she says it, she knows that she truly believes this. For two years she has struggled to accept her destiny, and even now she hates it, but the people of the world don't deserve to suffer more because of her own weakness. They should be able to wake up in the morning with the hope that the next will be better than the last. They deserve to believe in _something_, even if that something is her: Avatar Katara, the girl who still wants to run away from her destiny, and actually _might_ if given the chance.

—And there it is again, that odd rush of panic that makes her body freeze whenever she thinks of escaping. She wonders if this feeling comes from her own fear of what might happen to her if she did run, or if it's maybe her Avatar abilities warning her against fighting fate.

Bato sighs, stopping to kneel before her so that he can look her straight in the eyes. His expression is warm, yet firm, and she suddenly feels much younger.

(Or, maybe she's starting to remember that she _is_ young, and not as grown as she has been so desperately pretending to be.)

"Katara, I know you want to help people, and you will, but not yet. You may be the Avatar, but you haven't even _remotely_ begun to reach your potential. As the Avatar, you already have many enemies—enemies that you aren't yet ready to face. So for now, we have to find you suitable teachers in each of the elements before even _thinking_ about informing the world of your presence. It may not seem like it, but the world will be fine until you're ready. It has lasted a hundred years without the Avatar, it can wait a few more. Do you understand?"

Katara wants to argue, but knows it would be useless, so she simply nods her head.

"Good," Bato announces, standing up fully, but not before giving her a brief hug. "Now to find a map."

"Why don't we already have a map?"

"We do, but it's always better to have one used by locals for comparison, they'll have more useful information by virtue of having been there, after all."

"Where are we going, anyway?" Sokka asks, and Katara realizes that she, too, has no idea where Bato plans to find her an earthbending teacher.

"Omashu. King Bumi is known to be the most powerful earthbender to ever live. And even if he can't teach you, I'm sure he knows someone who can."

* * *

The first village they come across is small, and the people in it are dirty and tired. The villagers eye them warily, and Katara feels a stab of anger at herself—or rather, her past self. It's not fair that these people have had to suffer like this, to live so sad and untrusting.

She doesn't know what happened to the Avatar before her, but she knows there _was_ one. She can feel him there in a way she can't explain—if she focuses, she can almost see her past selves lined up beside her. They're nothing more than silhouettes, shadows against a blurry background, but they're there.

And it's there, between herself and a figure she recognizes as Avatar Roku, that he stands. The mysterious Avatar that left the world to burn.

* * *

**AN: Sorry this took so long. Honestly, I thought I'd already posted this like a month ago. I must've just not finished posting it and then thought I did, I guess? I don't really know what happened. I only realized it wasn't up because I went to double-check something I wanted to write for next chapter to make sure it wasn't already mentioned in this chapter, only to see I only had one chapter up still.**

**Anyway, this one kinda ends mid-scene, which is a bit weird, but I felt like it fit.**

**Ironically, I picture Katara having a better sense of her Avatar abilities than Aang did. Aang didn't fully accepted his Avatar destiny until when? Halfway into the series maybe? (no seriously when, I haven't seen the show in years) Meanwhile Katara completely understands who she is and what she must do. She hates it, and finds it unfair and scary that she has to fix the worlds problems (because it is unfair, she's like ten years old), and she wants to run away from it all, but she accepts that this is her fate.**


End file.
